Built-up strip mill guide



Dec. 6, 1966 G. A. OAKES 3,289,292

BUILTUP STRIP MILL GUIDE Filed 001;. 29, 1964 INVENTOR. GRANT A. OAKESATTORNEY United States Patent ()fiice 3,Z$Q,Z9Z Patented Dec. 6, 19663,289,292 BUILT-UP STRIP MILL GUIDE Grant A. (lakes, RD. 4, nearCortland, Ohio Filed'Oct. 29, 1964, Ser. No. 407,511 2 Claims. (Cl.29-481) This is a continuation-in-part of application Serial No.376,943, filed June 22, 1964.

This invention relates to a guide which is adapted to contact lateraledges of strip material, such as strip steel, as the latter is processedby a rolling mill and the like.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that strip mill guides arepositioned between the stands of rolls in a rolling mill andparticularly adjacent the stands of rolls so as to suitably guide thetraveling strip relative thereto. Such guides comprise suitable mountingmeans which have customarily been provided with replaceable, elongated,relatively soft metal guide members which engaged the lateral edges ofthe steel strip.

The present invention modifies the construction and the formation of theguide member by building up a suitable wearing surface of desirablecharacteristics and particularly with respect to the wearingcharacteristics of the material of which the guide is formed.

One of the objects of the invention is, therefore, the provision of abuilt-up strip mill guide presenting a relatively longer wearingsurface.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a built-up stripmill guide which is formed from a worn guide member removed from a stripmill.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of meanswhereby the wear member in a strip mill guide may be removed and builtup to comprise a new article of manufacture, particularly suited for itspurposes and particularly with respect to longer life than the originalarticle from which it is formed.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a method ofmaking a built-up guide for a strip mill.

It will occur to those skilled in the art that strip mill guides formedof metal relatively softer than the steel being directed to the rollstands of the strip mill have heretofore been commonly used. It willalso occur to those skilled in the art that such strip mill guides havebeen relatively soft and have required constant replacement whichinterferes with the operation of the mill.

It is, therefore, a still further object of the invention to provide animproved built-up strip mill guide which has a considerably longer lifein use than those guides heretofore known in the art.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafterdescribed and claimed, it being the intention to cover all changes andmodifications of the example of the invention herein chosen for purposesof the disclosure, which do not constitute departures from the spiritand scope of the invention.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a built-up strip mill guide formed inaccordance with this invention.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a strip mill guide during formation ofthe built-up surface thereof.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged cross section on line 3-3 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged cross section on line 44 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged cross section on line 55 of FIGURE 1.

By referring to the drawings and FIGURE 1 in particular, it will be seenthat a strip mill guide has been disclosed which is of conventional sizeand shape, and in the example chosen for illustration the guide isapproximately 33" long by 3 /2 in width and 1" in thickness. It has aT-head at one end, the guide body being indicated by the numeral 10, andthe T-head being indicated by the numeral 11. The T-head is formed witha projecting extension 12 of lesser height than the remainder of thehead 11 of the strip mill guide so that it will fit beneath a mountingmember in a conventional mounting means positioned alongside the passline of a strip mill, for example, and adjacent a stand of .reducingrolls therein.

The opposite end of the strip mill guide 10 has angular end portions 13and 14 which angle towards one another and terminate with a relativelynarrow end portion 15.

As seen in FIGURE 1 of the drawings, the strip mill guide is incondition for installation in the guide means of a strip mill.

By referring to FIGURE 2 of the drawings, the same strip mill guide willbe seen in perspective elevation with a longitudinally extending groove16 therein, and which groove extends from the end portion 15 to theT-head portion 11 and through the same to terminate in the end wall 17which defines the difference in height between the T-head portion 11 andthe projecting extension 12 as heretofore referred to. The groove 16 isformed in the strip mill guide body 10 and filled in with a relativelyharder metal as illustrated in FIGURE 2 of the drawings wherein asection of spooled wire W is being fed into the groove 16, melted andwelded therein by a Metal Inert Gas Process electric arc torch 18 havinga gas and wire delivering nozzle 19 as known in the art. The wire W isfed through the nozzle 19 by means not shown. The gas is argon and issupplied through a flexible hose 20 which includes an electricalconductor. It will be seen that the nozzle 19 of the M.I.G. torch 18 ispositioned in close relation to the metal defining the sides of thegroove 16 and with the axis of the nozzle 19 preferably disposed atabout 45 relative to the longitudinal plane of the guide It) and movedaway from the metal being deposited. As illustrated in FIGURE 2, theM.I.G. torch I8 is being moved to the right and the welded metal of thewire, indicated by the numeral 21, is deposited so as to completely fillthe longitudinal groove 16 and build up a surplus above the level of thetop surface of the strip mill guide 10.

The strip mill guide body 10 is preheated to a temperature between 9001200 F. and the build up of the desirable metal in the groove 16 isaccomplished while the strip mill guide 10 is within the indicatedtemperature range.

By referring to FIGURE 3 of the drawing, an enlarged cross sectionalelevation of the strip mill guide body 10 may be seen, and it will beobserved that the groove 16 therein is of irregular shape.

By referring now to FIGURE 4 of the drawings, it will be seen that therelatively harder metal 21 of the spooled wire W has been deposited at atemperature and rate so as to vaporize some of the lead and/or tinpresent in the metal of the strip mill guide 10 so as to form bubbles 22in the deposited solidified metal 21. The strip mill glide is an alloyof copper, tin and lead. The metal preferred and supplied as the wire Wis Siltrode; a silicon bronze consisting of 2.8% to 4% silicon and theremainder copper with a Brinell of 89 to 93. An alternate metal that maybe effectively used is Phostrode, or phosphor bronze alloy with aBrinell of 89.

It will thus be seen that the critical temperature of the guide 10, andthe welding temperature of the deposited metal 21 result in vaporizingsome of the metal of the guide 10 to form bubbles in the depositedmolten metal which quickly solidifies and traps the bubbles in randomorientation therein.

The relatively harder metal 21 is deposited by filling up the groove 16progressively in one pass of the torch 18 through which the spooled wireW is continuously fed and thereby melted and deposited.

In a typical arrangement the heat from the torch nozzle 19 will flowback over the deposited metal 21 toward the left in FIGURE 2 to form asmooth closed surface thereon. The temperature of the torch is relatedto the speed of the wire which is generally 2'-3' per second. The torch18 is moved at an average rate of about 4' per second. This procedurewill result in a perfect bond between the relatively harder metal 21 andthe relatively softer metal of the strip metal guide body 10. When thegroove 16 has been completely filled from one end to the other, as itappears in cross section in FIGURE 4 of the drawings with the bubbles 22therein, the strip mill guide body is cooled, preferably with airalthough a water quench can be used, and the excess metal as appears inFIGURE 4 of the drawings is then ground off, or otherwise removed, toform the transversely flat surface as it appears in FIGURES 1 and of thedrawings. The illustration in FIGURE 5 of the drawings shows thedeposited relatively harder metal 21 positioned in the groove 16 of thestrip metal guide body where it has bonded completely therewith and thetop surface has been removed, as hereinbefore referred to, to form theuniformly transversely flat surface.

The next step in the formation of the built-up strip metal guide is tostraighten the same so as to overcome the are which normally occursduring the preheating and Welding in of the relatively hard metal 21.When the straightening has been completed, the build-up rolling millguide appears as in FIGURE 1 of the drawings, and it is then ready forinstallation in a strip mill where it will considerably outlast therolling mill guides heretofore known in the art.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that such rolling mill guides asheretofore known in the art are generally formed of a copper base alloy,such as hearing bronze, or the like. The relatively harder metal whichis used to build up the desirable wearing surface longitudinally of andcentrally of the strip mill guide body is considerably harder than thebearing bronze of which the strip mill guide body 10 is formed, and atthe same time it is relatively softer than the steel strip which isguided thereby so that it is entirely suitable for the purpose intended.

It will thus be seen that a built-up strip mill guide has beendisclosed, together with the method of making the same, which produces asuperior article and which may, incidentally, be produced by reworkingused worn-out strip mill guides.

It will occur to those skilled in the art that the longitudinal centerline built-up area of the strip mill guide body as disclosed herein isin the desirable position to receive a majority of the wear resultingfrom contact by the lateral edges of the strip material, such as stripsteel being guided. It will also occur to those skilled in the art thatthe deflection of the strip material being guided will cause the same toproperly enter the stands of rolls of the strip mill, while at the sametime presenting suitable wearing surfaces capable of relatively longlife.

It will be seen that the formation of the metal 21 in the strip millguide body 10 with the bubbles 22 therein provides a series of desirablylocated grease and/or oil traps which fill with lubricant applied to theguide or to the edges of the traveling strip and continue to supply thelubricant as needed. The combination of these builtin lubricant pocketsand the desirable welded in metal 21 result in the greatly extended lifeof the guides so formed.

The built-up strip mill guide disclosed herein has been described inconnection with a continuous strip mill and a stand of rolls therein,and it will occur to those skilled in the art that the guides mightequally well be applied to similar metal strip handling, Working, andfabricating operations where it is desired to guide a traveling strip ina fixed path, and having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The method of making a guide for traveling strip in a strip mill andthe like that comprises forming an elongated groove in an elongatedmetallic body member, heating said member to a temperature between 900and 1200 F. and depositing a groove filling body of molten metal of thegroup including silicon bronze alloy and Phosphor bronze alloy in saidgroove at a temperature sufiicient to vaporize some of the metal of saidbody member and trap the same in said molten metal so as to form bubblestherein, cooling said body member, removing metal to form a transverselyflat wearing surface and straightening said body member so that it islongitudinally fiat.

2. The method of making a guide set forth in claim 1 and wherein saidmetal deposited in said groove is melted by a metal insert gas processtorch arranged to form a heat cover.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,255,469 2/1918Schlieder 29-481 1,956,462 4/ 1934 Knuth 29529 1,999,599 4/ 1935 Smith29-529 2,185,657 1/1940 Brangle et a1. 72428 2,241,789 5/1941 Queneau etal 29-529 2,250,561 7/1941 Wissler 29-529 2,258,913 10/1941 Stone29--481 CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner.

H. D. HOINKES, Assistant Examiner.

1. THE METHOD OF MAKING A GUIDE FOR TRAVELING STRIP IN A STRIP MILL ANDTHE LIKE THAT COMPRISES FORMING AN ELONGATED GROOVE IN AN ELONGATEDMETALLIC BODY MEMBER, HEATING SAID MEMBER TO A TEMPERATURE BETWEEN 900*AND 1200*F. AND DEPOSITING A GROOVE FILLING BODY OF MOLTEN METAL OF THEGROUP INCLUDING SILICON BRONZE ALLOY AND PHOSPHOR BRONZE ALLOY IN SAIDGROOVE AT A TEMPERATURE SUFFICIENT TO VAPORIZE SOME OF THE METAL OF SAIDBODY MEMBER AND TRAP THE SAME IN SAID MOLTEN METAL SO AS